*** Advice to Young People Joining SAR Teams ***

Young people have perhaps two common ways to become members of a Search &
Rescue team. The first is to join a local Explorer group. Lots of these
youth groups provide Search & Rescue services, and usually work under the
supervision of an adult with SAR experience. This is a very popular way
for young people to join Search & Rescue, so I suggest that you try and
find such a group in your area. Most teams prefer that anyone joining
already have some wilderness skills, so becoming proficient at being
self-reliant in the wilderness, e.g. through having the right outdoor
equipment, having hiked a number of local trails and knowing how to use
a map and compass, can be a big assett.

The second approach is to ask to join a Search & Rescue team as a Member
in Training (MIT). The MIT's are usually allowed to take part in practices
and learn a lot about SAR skills, but are usually not allowed to take
part in actual missions, except perhaps in very limited way. Once you have
completed a year or two as an MIT, and have reached the age of a legal
adult, the team will usually make the MIT's a full team member and permit
them to go on searches. This is beneficial to both the MIT and the SAR
team; they have had an opportunity to examine your skills and you, upon
reaching the age of adulthood, can immediately become a full member of
a SAR team.

Please remember that very few people are actually paid to do search &
rescue. There are a few park wardens who do this, but thier primary job
is to manage the parks, SAR is typically an 'extra'' duty. Police
officials often manage SAR, but again as an extra duty, and typically do
not go into the field. The only true professional SAR folks are military
Coastguard and air SARtechs. To become a Sartech requires joining the
military, doing a regular tour of duty, being screened through a process
that has a 95% dropout rate, and then being a Sartech for only a few
years before being returned to regular duties. In short the vast majority
of SAR folks are simply enthuisiastic volunteers with day jobs.

There are very few books on SAR. Setnicka's Wilderness Search & Rescue is
one, and Hamish Macinnes has books on actual rescues, but not on training.
NASAR and other agencies, such as British Columbia's Provincial Emergency
Program, have training manuals on basic SAR, the NASAR manual is called
FUNSAR (Fundamentals of SAR). Most training is done by joining a volunteer
team and being taught one of the courses listed above as a trainee member.
NASAR and the Emergency Response Institute give these courses, usually as a
SAR school that moves around the States at different times.


Check out SARINFO's SAR Teams webpage at
http://web20.mindlink.net/sarinfo/Sarteams.htm
to see if you can find a SAR team in your area. If not try NASAR' s website
at http://www.nasar.org/  and ask if they now of any team in your area.

In the meantime I suggest that you read a number of the articles in
SARINFO's Tech Tips, at   http://web20.mindlink.net/sarinfo/Sartechs.htm
which should give you lots of useful skills on your way to becoming a
valuable SAR team member.


Martin Colwell.
Lions Bay Search & Rescue
sarinfo@istar.ca

                    ---------------------------